Apparatus for heating continuous lengths of rods



4 Sheets--Smee' 1.` E. ROBERTS.

WIRE RODS, z.

Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

N. Pneus Pnmvmmmpmr. wmlngm, D. c.

(No Model.)

APPARATUS POR HEATING CONTINUOUS LENGTHS OP RODS, WIRE,

(No'Model.)V I 4 Sheets-Sheet 2. H. ROBERTS.

APPARATUS POR HEATING CONTINUOUS LBNGI'IIS OP RODS, WIRE, WIRE RODS, &c.

No. 423,445. Patented Mar. 18,1890.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

H. ROBERTS'. APPARATUS PUR HEATING CONTINUOUS LUNGTUS 0F NOUS, WIRE,

WIRE NOUS, am.

(No Model.)

INVENTOR. lfm/17 abge/ n Pnsns. mwumcgmpm. wam-mn, nA a wlTNEssEs.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

H. RBERTS. APPARATUS FOR HEATING CONTINUOUS LENGTHS OE RODS, WIRE', WIRE RODS, &c.

No. 423,445. Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

W11/ INVENTOR. ITNESSES. W l a 5444. www

Nin-rias. Fhowmmgnphu, wumngnu. n c

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ROBERTS, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING CONTINUOUS LENGTHS OF RODS, WIRE, WIRE RODS, &c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,445, dated March 18, 1890. Application filed June 7, 1888. Serial No. 276,294. (No model.)

To all 4wia/0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY ROBERTS, of Pittsburg, in the county of Alleghenyand 'State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new apparatus for heating wire, Wire rods, hoop iron or steel, and similar metal, for the purpose of enabling them to be rolled, annealed, tempered, galvanized, or for any other purpose to which the apparatus may be applicable; and it consists in a furnace of improved construction in which the wire or rod is heated in its passage through the furnace.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through the furnace on the line a: of Fig. 2,

showing the rolls in dotted lines for supporting the ends of the wire. Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section on the line y y of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of a furnace, illustrating a modification of my invention. Fig. 4 is a horizontal section ony the line .e .e of Fig. 3. I

Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each.

In the drawings, 2 represents the heatingchamber of the furnace.4 In order to adapt it foruse on the regenerative principle, I prefer to provide it at the ends with chambers 3, iilled with checker-work and provided with gas-inlets et and with ports 5, which by means of suitable valves maybe connected with the stack to serve as an outlet for the waste products of combustion, or with the outer air to serve as an air-inlet. The chambers 3 are connected with the heating-chamber 2 by neck-fines 6. The gas and air enter the combustion-chamber 2 from one of the regenerator-chambers, and after they have burned Atherein the products of combustion pass through the other regenerator-chamber to the stack, heating the latter chamber in their passage. The course of the gas and air may then be reversed, and the regenerators are used alternately as inlet and outlet passages in the usual way.

Inside the heating-chamber 2 is journaled a spool` or drum, around which the wire or wire rod is wrapped in one or Vmore coils or plications. Itis caused to travel through the chamber-from one sideto the other around this spool or drum, and as it thus has a circuitous or indirect passage it is subjected for a considerable time to the heat of the burning gases, and may thus be raised to a high degree of heat, dependent upon the number of times it passes around the drum and the consequent duration of its subjection to the fire of the furnace. This construction of apparatus which I have just described (except the regenerator-chalnbers, which are an unessential feature) constitutes my invention.,v

The spool, however, may be constructed in many diiferent ways, and I have illustrated some of them in the drawings. Others will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

In Figs. l and 2 I show one form of the spool. It consists'of a hollow cylindrical casting 7, mounted on a hollow shaft 8, which is supported in suitable journals 9, and is driven bya belt-pulley 10` or other suitable power-connection. The shaft 8 is hollow and is provided with a water-supply pipe 11, by

which a constant stream of water through the shaft and through the body of the spool is maintained. The water has its exit from the end of the shaft into a waste pipe or passage l2.- The water serves to cool the spool andits shaft and to prevent them from being burned by the heat of the furnace. On the periphery of the spool 7 is a shell or ring 14, preferably made in two or more transverselydivided sections, and provided with. peripheral ribs 15, which divide it into a numberof grooves to enable two or more wires or rods to be passed through the-furnace at a single time. These grooves are preferably inclined, as shown in Fig. 2, so that thewire shall be automatically distributed on thesurface of the spool and shall be prevented from overl lapping when the wire is wrapped more than once around it. The shell 14 is pro'- vided in each groove with one or more notches or cavities l17, in which the ,endof a wire may and then the rotation of the spool wraps theY wire around its circumference in one yof the grooves, and when it has been wrapped a suflicient number of timesf-say from one to twenty times-the end is unfastened from the spooland is drawn from the other side of lthe furnace and is secured to a rotary reel situate at'the opposite end of the furnace,l or

paratus, according to the nature of the treatment which the wire is to receive. Two or more strands of wire may be fastened to the spool and wound thereon at once.

furnace at one end and causes them to pass out at the other in a continuous course; but,

' owiingto'the number of the wrappin gs around the spool, the wires are exposed to the heat for al sufficient length of time to heat themto a high degree, even thoughthe spool be driven quite rapidly. I am thus enabled-.to heatthe wire without causing it to travel so slowly as to impede or diminish the output of the mill inwhich. the apparatus is used.

The slowness of action of prior apparatus f inY which the wire is caused to pass directly through a heating-chamber from one side to.

the other has been fatal to their successful use. The only disadvantage in this form of apparatus' is that if it be used' for heating morethan one wire or rod at a time anything which would necessitate the stopping of the spool. for oneof the wires would oblige it to be Istopped for all, and from this causeserious inconvenience might result. I overcome this by constructing the spool so that there shall be a separate section or part for 'each of the wires, these'sections orparts being so arranged thatV any of them` may be checked in its rotationjwithout checking the others. This secures independent action of the Wires, and anyaccident which may affect one need not affect the others. ,Y For this purpose the spool is preferably composed of several' parallel rotary shafts 1 8, arranged within the furnace and at their ends provided with gear-wheels 19, intermeshing with a common driving-pinion.20,Fig`s. 3 and 4. Around the shafts 1S andsupported thereby are av number of rings 21, with grooved peripheries, arranged side by' side, as shown in Fig. 4. The rings are prevented from` side movement by enlargements or collars 22 on the shafts 18, which iit Within grooves on the interiors of the rings 2.1;. The rotation of the driving-pinion 2O The rotaj' tion ofthe spool draws the wires into the i In order to permit easy adjustment of the rings 21, I prefer to make them in segments V and to Abolt the segments together bybolts 23, as shown in Fig. 4.

rIhe shafts 18 are preferably made hollow 1 and cooled by the passage through them of streams of water-in the usual Way. is passed to the rolls or to the'galvanizing ap- 'Ihe apparatus may be variously changed in form, position, and details of construction i without departing from the principlesof the invention.

I claim-n f 1. In an apparatus 'for heating wire, 85e., the combination, with a heating-chamber, of'

ra coil-spool arranged therein and. adapted to :receive one or more wraps or turns of' the wire to be heated, mechanism for rotating yrolls or reels for vdischarging and receivingthe wire, substantially as and for the purposes l described. n

2. In an apparatus for heating wire, te., the combination, with a heating-chamber, Nof la power-driven horizontally-journaledl taperling coil-spool arranged therein and4 adapted lvto gradually andy progressively receive and? discharge one yor more wraps orturns of`- the wire to be heated, and rolls` or reels for discharging and'receivin g the-wire, substantially Vias and for the purposes described.

IOO

3. In an apparatus for heating wire, dre., v

the combination, with a heating-chamber, lof a coil-spool arranged therein and adapted to` lreceive a series of coils or turns of the wire, i &c., to be heated, said: coil-spool being com.,- I-posed of separate independently-rotary annu- :lar sections, substantially as and for thefpu-r-` t poses described.

f i 4. In an` apparatus for heating Wire,&c., the combination, with a heating-chamber, of Ya coil-spool arranged therein and adapted to receive a series of.- coils or turns of the wire,l 1&0., to be heated, said coil-spool beingrcom posed ofV separate independently-rotary anjnular tapering sections, substantiallyzas and for the purposes described. v

5. In an apparatus for heating wire,`&c., "the combination, with a heating-chamber, o'ff a power-.driven hollow coil-spool arranged therein andv adapted to receivea series'lof coils or turns of the Wire, dac., to be heat-edf, said spool being mounted upon a hollow shaft of time depending on the number of itsoonvolutions around the spoohsubstantally as and for the purposes described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of May, A. D. 1888.

HENRY ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

W. B. CORWIN, THoMAs W. BAKEWELL. 

